Source: Vancouver Whitecaps have contacted Chelsea striker and World Cup champion Olivier Giroud about a potential transfer. However, he only wants a Los Angeles, Miami, Washington, New York or Chicago move. #VWFC #MLS #CFC— Dan Riccio (@danriccio_) October 8, 2019
This thread will stay active until the day we are eliminated from the playoffs or win MLS Cup 2019. Whichever comes first....
Let me try to clarify. Yes Juninho is purely a sub for us at this point. However if we are going with JDS, Llegett and Favio as our starting midfield 3 of a 4-3-3 formation and, as suggested, are willing to let Corona go in the name of acquiring a better 4th player, then Juninho would be the guy you use as the 4th Dmid until you found that replacement. And if you don't find that guy, then Juninho would get a ton more minutes and I don't think the drop off would be that great. I'm sure it wouldn't be worse than Perry Kitchen who is yet another dude I want off this team. I'd even be okay to keep seeing guys like Cuello get those minutes before I bring back Kitchen. So yeah our starters would be JDS, Llegett and Favio with Corona as number 4. But if we had to lose him, I wouldn't lose sleep at the idea that Juninho would become number 4.
Agree with every point. You don't really need to replace Zlatan's goals (although it's not impossible -- other MLS players have had 30-goal seasons, and for less money) if you have a striker that presses, creates for others more and makes you a stronger overall team. I for one hope we move on from Zlatan. I don't think we'll ever really be a proper team with a proper playing philosophy with him helming us. He can't score enough goals to make for the things a modern striker needs to do in a system that he doesn't really provide. Having said that, I'm not totally sold on GBS. I have heard he's a very good coach, but I suppose you can either look at this season and think he's gotten a lot out of a really flawed team or that he's shown a great deal of naivete, inexperience and inflexibility in attempting to make the most of what he has. He seems very committed to a specific style of play and seems like he can only work with Latin Americans, whereas a guy like Arena has made lemonade with a lot less in New England. I don't think coaches of this kind of rigidity can succeed in MLS, but I'm willing to see how one more season would look under him with his ideal players. I'm giving the benefit of the doubt that the rigidity he's shown is building a foundation this year for the guy's that will be around.
But my point is I think we should let go of Juninho. He has not rebounded in his second stint in MLS and was a passanger this season. 8 min in the league
2 cents: keep Corona. His reintroduction to lineup seemed to give us a boost. Ibra - I don’t think his heart is in it time to move on. Gamble on Alessandrini back as TAM. I think we could go with more defensive fullbacks and ask less of them in attack - if not then we need a true defensive mid - we need total package athletic fast destroyer, not undersized, and can play possession with tidy link up play when we win the ball. JDS is good there but not every game calls for all out attack. Right now we have a huge drop off when we bring in Carrasco. If we have two new DPs, and one is a forward, what’s the second one? I think defense needs help but I don’t think it will be DP but that would be a gutsy GM move. Of course Skelvjik is gone, but I have to say I like Gioncarlo for depth but I’m not sold on him as a starter. If parting ways with him could get us a CB who could better complement Polenta then I’d have no problem with that. I didn’t see his on the field results as really any better than Steres:
I don't know that I have the strength or will to go into the tactical depth of some of you but I see our needs as follows: GK: Bingham isn't great but I feel that he's serviceable if he's got a decent defence in front of him. Defence: Nail Araujo down to a decent contract & groom him for the future. Bring in two additional starting outside backs. Jettison Rolf and Jorgen into the sun. Might be worth keeping Steres in house as he had a decent season. Polenta's a lock. I'm not sold on Gonzalez. Outside backs are the priority. Central midfield: JDS, Corona, Lletget, Alvarez, Kitchen. On paper, pretty deep. Now just figure out which combo works best and keep in mind that one of them has to be somewhat dedicated to covering the defence, as we were frequently torn to shreds in transition this year. Better organization and the aforementioned fullbacks should mitigate that. Should. Wingers/wide midfielders: Antuna needs an end product but may be worth persevering with a little longer. Pavon is a no-brainer. Lletget can do a job but in more of a utility role and he's probably better in the middle these days. If Alessandrini stays on TAM, recovers & stays fit, he might benefit from Pavon's presence. He's a gamble as a DP now, given the injury history & the prospect that he doesn't return to his peak. If we lose him and/or Antuna, we'll need a winger. Depending on who is up front, we could probably use somebody who's a bit more of a provider, especially if Zlatan remains. Attack: Will Zlatan stay for another year? Rumblings seem to be slightly more positive now than a couple of months ago. Positive if you want him to stay. Hard to argue with his production. Then there's the "GBS philosophy" argument, whereby the team as a whole performs better because they implement his strategy more effectively. Of course, GBS may turn out to be pants tactically, and this advocates sacrificing an immensely gifted goalscorer (30 goals with this team!) to find out. Then again, we're clearly and reasonably giving him at least another year, while Zlatan's are clearly numbered, so we stand to gain more in the long run by giving GBS the best chance of realizing his vision. Everything points to dynamism & teamwork in that regard, so unless Messi has just read Alexi Lalas's assessment that Vela is in the top 20 players in the world and said "Hold my beer... in fact sod it, it's Carlos Vela we're talking about. I can do this while still holding my beer. Actually, give me your beer.... and blindfold me.", I think we're better off getting a youthful-to-peak age forward, who can cover ground and put in work. The difference that will make in how teams need to handle us, could be transformational. Could.
Calling Juninho a sub for this year's Galaxy is really a stretch. Not only doesn't Juninho play, he seldom makes the 18. He is at best a locker room presence. GBS obviously prefers Carrasco over Juninho and Kitchen for the late game sub DMid role. Given that Carrasco is slightly older and a career utility player, this speaks to how far downhill Juninho's game has gone.
Guys if Juninho leaves I won't shed tears. I'll wish him well. But in comparison to Kitchen, Cuello and Carrasco I think Juninho in the 8 minutes he played showed that he is still on par with Kitchen and Carrasco while only losing out to Cuello in the areas of age and stamina. We all agree that Kitchen needs to for sure go after the final whistle blows for us this year. But if you keep Cuello around because he is younger, cheaper and serviceable, then for me it would only be a matter of who is the better deal financially Carrasco or Juninho if you had to lose one? I'd prefer we didn't have to lose either and just looked for a Kitchen replacement only.
Cuello is out of his element in MLS play. He's not nearly as athletic as his opponents and his total skill set consists of "decent touch" as far as I can tell. I honestly don't think he would be that good even at USL level. His roster space needs to go a player who we could provide us real help rather than just serving as a placeholder, which is what I think Cuello is.
What I think you're saying here is that it may be worth trying Cuello out in our digital marketing department?
Ibrahimovic on his future: I have a contract until 31 December until then there are no other thoughts. I respect my contract. If I leave you will have less to write about, if I stay you will still have something to write about #LAGalaxy— Damian Calhoun (@DamianCalhoun) October 17, 2019 Zlatan on the possibility of Sunday being his last game for the @LAGalaxy: “It could be.” #LAGalaxy pic.twitter.com/18RJglAPIA— Delmy Barillas (@DelmyBarillas) October 17, 2019